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A Beautiful Lie
In this juicy psychological thriller, home organizer Emily is invited to vacation at her beautiful and wealthy new client's summer home—but once inside, Emily doesn’t want to leave.
Every one of my home organizing clients is a fabulous liar.
They tell themselves they need to keep clutter in their lives for rainy days or just-in-cases. They hold onto things too tightly. Most people don't know how to cut to the heart of what's important and purge everything that's not.
That's where I come in. I can look into my client’s lives and see exactly what's weighing them down, and I get rid of it for them.
It sounds easy, but I’ll let you in on a I have trouble letting go of things, too.
When Cap slides into my life with her neon signs and velvet hair bows and magnetic energy, I know I can't just let her walk away. Because one of the first rules of home organizing is that like belongs with like. And Cap and me? We're destined to be together.
She may not know it yet, but that's okay. I'd be lying if I didn't say the challenge is part of the thrill. And luckily for Cap, I'm not afraid of a little hard work.
Every one of my home organizing clients is a fabulous liar.
They tell themselves they need to keep clutter in their lives for rainy days or just-in-cases. They hold onto things too tightly. Most people don't know how to cut to the heart of what's important and purge everything that's not.
That's where I come in. I can look into my client’s lives and see exactly what's weighing them down, and I get rid of it for them.
It sounds easy, but I’ll let you in on a I have trouble letting go of things, too.
When Cap slides into my life with her neon signs and velvet hair bows and magnetic energy, I know I can't just let her walk away. Because one of the first rules of home organizing is that like belongs with like. And Cap and me? We're destined to be together.
She may not know it yet, but that's okay. I'd be lying if I didn't say the challenge is part of the thrill. And luckily for Cap, I'm not afraid of a little hard work.
362 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 8, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A Beautiful Lie by Tanya Grant
I do not like home organizer, Emily, but she won't care, I'm nothing on her radar. And, she does have a radar and to be on that radar a women needs very special features. Emily studies her clients to see what they are hiding, how what they say is different from the reality. When Emily sees Cap she knows she wants what Cap has and will do what she has to do to make herself so important to Cap that Cap wants her around, even as the lowly home organizer.
Cap is wealthy, has wealthy friends and relatives, and through Cap, Emily can grow her business with the people who will give her the most. But Emily's sights are set on more than growing her business and it's hard to exactly pin down where she is going and what she is doing. Emily's business seems successful, she seems enterprising and has the energy, work ethic (although I might take back the word "ethic"), and business acumen to make her business grow.
But something is not right with Emily and maybe you don't want to be on her radar. Maybe you don't want to be her client. Still, Emily is getting a chance to go on vacation with Cap, where Cap promises that her wealthy mom will introduce her to her wealthy friends. What can go wrong with that idea?
I enjoyed the mystery but I didn't enjoy Emily and her obsession with Cap. But, without the obsession, this would be a different story. I don't have to like a person to enjoy the story.
Publication September 8, 2026
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley and NetGalley
I do not like home organizer, Emily, but she won't care, I'm nothing on her radar. And, she does have a radar and to be on that radar a women needs very special features. Emily studies her clients to see what they are hiding, how what they say is different from the reality. When Emily sees Cap she knows she wants what Cap has and will do what she has to do to make herself so important to Cap that Cap wants her around, even as the lowly home organizer.
Cap is wealthy, has wealthy friends and relatives, and through Cap, Emily can grow her business with the people who will give her the most. But Emily's sights are set on more than growing her business and it's hard to exactly pin down where she is going and what she is doing. Emily's business seems successful, she seems enterprising and has the energy, work ethic (although I might take back the word "ethic"), and business acumen to make her business grow.
But something is not right with Emily and maybe you don't want to be on her radar. Maybe you don't want to be her client. Still, Emily is getting a chance to go on vacation with Cap, where Cap promises that her wealthy mom will introduce her to her wealthy friends. What can go wrong with that idea?
I enjoyed the mystery but I didn't enjoy Emily and her obsession with Cap. But, without the obsession, this would be a different story. I don't have to like a person to enjoy the story.
Publication September 8, 2026
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley and NetGalley
September 11, 2026
"In this juicy psychological thriller, home organizer Emily is invited to vacation at her beautiful and wealthy new client's summer home—but once inside, Emily doesn’t want to leave.
Every one of my home organizing clients is a fabulous liar."
Even the one who is organizing her lies is a fabulous liar, which she inserts herself into Cap's wealth for all the wrong reasons. This was fun to watch escalate because you can't look away as everything is crumbling beneath their house of sand. It is a dark suspense with Emily creating the chaos as a home organizer. She becomes obsessed with Cap's life, but even with the underlying lies and tone. I would definitely read another one from this author. I became obsessed with finishing it to see where the ruins would end up...it was a matter of when....
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC.
Every one of my home organizing clients is a fabulous liar."
Even the one who is organizing her lies is a fabulous liar, which she inserts herself into Cap's wealth for all the wrong reasons. This was fun to watch escalate because you can't look away as everything is crumbling beneath their house of sand. It is a dark suspense with Emily creating the chaos as a home organizer. She becomes obsessed with Cap's life, but even with the underlying lies and tone. I would definitely read another one from this author. I became obsessed with finishing it to see where the ruins would end up...it was a matter of when....
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Such a fun, dark summer read with a crazy main character and plenty of wacky people she tries to integrate herself with in obsessive terror. I would definitely read more from this author. This would make a great beach read!
September 12, 2026
I figured this book would be a twisted story based on just the title. But it was a deep spiraling story that left me speechless. At first, things seem very innocent. One woman has feelings for another woman and starts off by creating a friendship with her. Slowly, she inches her way into the tight knit family circle. This story feels like a woman who desires to be part of that wealthy world. By the end of the book, it becomes apparent that there is a darker endgame.
September 28, 2026
She will organize your home, your life and YOU.
This book gave me the kind of obsession I love to read about from a safe distance. The most unsettling part? How perfectly reasonable the FMC made everything sound in her own head. Every questionable thought had an explanation, and I could see the spiral coming while she was busy convincing herself it all made sense.
Watching the character arc as she went from wanting a job to feeling entitled to it was what really hooked me. I didn't like her, but I couldn't look away. I absolutely needed to know how far she was willing to take this and what was her explanation to self.
If you like obsessively unhinged characters, blurred boundaries, and books that leave you reconsidering who you let into your house, this one's for you.
Massive thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, and the author for gifting me the ARC through NetGalley. As always, all opinions expressed in this review are my very own.
This book gave me the kind of obsession I love to read about from a safe distance. The most unsettling part? How perfectly reasonable the FMC made everything sound in her own head. Every questionable thought had an explanation, and I could see the spiral coming while she was busy convincing herself it all made sense.
Watching the character arc as she went from wanting a job to feeling entitled to it was what really hooked me. I didn't like her, but I couldn't look away. I absolutely needed to know how far she was willing to take this and what was her explanation to self.
If you like obsessively unhinged characters, blurred boundaries, and books that leave you reconsidering who you let into your house, this one's for you.
Massive thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, and the author for gifting me the ARC through NetGalley. As always, all opinions expressed in this review are my very own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A Beautiful Lie by Tanya Grant was a bit of a strange ride. The whole time I was reading, it felt like a knockoff version of the Netflix series You. Emily, a home organizer, becomes obsessed with her client Cap, and like Joe, we’re pulled deep into her thoughts and rationalizations for her increasingly over-the-top behavior.
When Cap invites Emily to spend the month of July at her family’s gorgeous summer home, Emily is convinced it’s the perfect chance to solidify their relationship. What follows is bizarre, unsettling, and hard to look away from.
It’s definitely not your typical thriller, but if you enjoy obsessive, slightly unhinged character-driven drama, this might be one to pick up.
When Cap invites Emily to spend the month of July at her family’s gorgeous summer home, Emily is convinced it’s the perfect chance to solidify their relationship. What follows is bizarre, unsettling, and hard to look away from.
It’s definitely not your typical thriller, but if you enjoy obsessive, slightly unhinged character-driven drama, this might be one to pick up.
September 24, 2026
Ummmm what a freaking PSYCHO. I think I said “what the f$&* is WRONG with her??” 63738736363 times while listening to this audiobook. 🫠
September 11, 2026
How is this a thriller? Just about someone obsessed with someone else.
I skimmed the last few chapters to avoid DNF’ing it.
I skimmed the last few chapters to avoid DNF’ing it.
September 17, 2026
Desire Becomes a Dangerous Game
A Beautiful Lie is the kind of psychological thriller that makes obsession feel almost intoxicating. Tanya Grant blends the stalker intensity of Killing Eve with the calculated manipulation of You, creating a story built on control, deception, lust, and the dangerous belief that wanting something badly enough makes it yours. Because everything unfolds through Emily’s eyes, it becomes increasingly easy to follow her logic—and even easier to find yourself invested in seeing just how far she can take her increasingly questionable plans.
Emily is meticulously controlled, highly intelligent, and frighteningly perceptive. She studies people the way a chess player studies an opponent, picking apart the gaps between what they say and what they actually mean until she knows exactly where to press and when to yield. Her need for order and control makes every disruption feel like a challenge to overcome, and even when her carefully constructed plans begin to unravel, she always seems to have another move waiting. There is something especially gripping about being inside the mind of a woman who is so morally compromised while watching her maneuver herself into exactly the position she wants.
Cap is the spark that turns Emily’s careful calculations into outright obsession. Her attraction is immediate and unapologetically carnal, fueled by Cap’s beauty, allure, and everything her life represents. Emily studies every part of her, becoming convinced she understands Cap in a way no one else does and turning every vulnerability into another reason they belong together. Soon, wanting Cap is no longer enough. Emily begins manipulating Cap’s attempts at success, quietly shaping the outcomes so Cap believes she did it all herself. The more Emily inserts herself into Cap’s world, the more her obsession feeds on the illusion that she understands her until devotion blurs into possession and Cap becomes someone Emily is certain she was meant to have.
There’s a quietly sinister quality to this story in the way obsession, manipulation, and desire become almost indistinguishable. Every move is deliberate, every interaction another piece being positioned, with desire driving a game where the rules seem to change whenever they become inconvenient. It’s a dark, unsettling descent into obsession where every move is calculated and the game is already underway long before anyone realizes they’re playing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the chance to read this ARC!
Favorite Quotes:
"But before you can organize what you have, you need to get rid of the things that are holding you back. The people who are."
"[H]ow could I deny her? She wanted me here, so of course I came. I’m glad she couldn’t wait to see me either."
"There’s something special about [honeysuckle], the way if you pull everything apart to its core, you can finally get at its sweetness. I want her sweetness to coat my fingers, my life, even if it takes a while. Even if she gives it to me drop by drop."
"Before her, I didn’t know what I was missing. After, any room without her is a place I don’t want to be."
"Chess masters study the games of their opponents to learn their blind spots and know what weaknesses to exploit, where to push. I need to do the same. I want to understand her vulnerabilities."
"She pushes people away because it’s easier than forming attachments to people she actually cares about. The people she lets closest to her heart would hurt most if they chose to leave her, so she leaves them first."
"When two people love each other, they help each other through the tough times. [She] might be neon, but my flame for her is a pure lighthouse torch. I’ll be there for her in the dark."
"All those creatures must have been starving, neglected. And then they saw [her], and like me, they saw a meal."
A Beautiful Lie is the kind of psychological thriller that makes obsession feel almost intoxicating. Tanya Grant blends the stalker intensity of Killing Eve with the calculated manipulation of You, creating a story built on control, deception, lust, and the dangerous belief that wanting something badly enough makes it yours. Because everything unfolds through Emily’s eyes, it becomes increasingly easy to follow her logic—and even easier to find yourself invested in seeing just how far she can take her increasingly questionable plans.
Emily is meticulously controlled, highly intelligent, and frighteningly perceptive. She studies people the way a chess player studies an opponent, picking apart the gaps between what they say and what they actually mean until she knows exactly where to press and when to yield. Her need for order and control makes every disruption feel like a challenge to overcome, and even when her carefully constructed plans begin to unravel, she always seems to have another move waiting. There is something especially gripping about being inside the mind of a woman who is so morally compromised while watching her maneuver herself into exactly the position she wants.
Cap is the spark that turns Emily’s careful calculations into outright obsession. Her attraction is immediate and unapologetically carnal, fueled by Cap’s beauty, allure, and everything her life represents. Emily studies every part of her, becoming convinced she understands Cap in a way no one else does and turning every vulnerability into another reason they belong together. Soon, wanting Cap is no longer enough. Emily begins manipulating Cap’s attempts at success, quietly shaping the outcomes so Cap believes she did it all herself. The more Emily inserts herself into Cap’s world, the more her obsession feeds on the illusion that she understands her until devotion blurs into possession and Cap becomes someone Emily is certain she was meant to have.
There’s a quietly sinister quality to this story in the way obsession, manipulation, and desire become almost indistinguishable. Every move is deliberate, every interaction another piece being positioned, with desire driving a game where the rules seem to change whenever they become inconvenient. It’s a dark, unsettling descent into obsession where every move is calculated and the game is already underway long before anyone realizes they’re playing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the chance to read this ARC!
Favorite Quotes:
"But before you can organize what you have, you need to get rid of the things that are holding you back. The people who are."
"[H]ow could I deny her? She wanted me here, so of course I came. I’m glad she couldn’t wait to see me either."
"There’s something special about [honeysuckle], the way if you pull everything apart to its core, you can finally get at its sweetness. I want her sweetness to coat my fingers, my life, even if it takes a while. Even if she gives it to me drop by drop."
"Before her, I didn’t know what I was missing. After, any room without her is a place I don’t want to be."
"Chess masters study the games of their opponents to learn their blind spots and know what weaknesses to exploit, where to push. I need to do the same. I want to understand her vulnerabilities."
"She pushes people away because it’s easier than forming attachments to people she actually cares about. The people she lets closest to her heart would hurt most if they chose to leave her, so she leaves them first."
"When two people love each other, they help each other through the tough times. [She] might be neon, but my flame for her is a pure lighthouse torch. I’ll be there for her in the dark."
"All those creatures must have been starving, neglected. And then they saw [her], and like me, they saw a meal."
September 8, 2026
3.75 ⭐️
Obsessive, delusional, creepy, manipulative…Emily was an absolute train wreck, and apparently I couldn’t look away. This was dark, twisted and juicy. Emily is a professional home organizer who becomes increasingly obsessed with her wealthy client, Cap, and I absolutely loved to hate her. The more obsessive and unhinged she became, the more fascinating she was to watch. I also really liked getting pulled into Cap’s privileged world and glamorous summer home. Everything looked so polished and perfect on the surface but underneath it, it was anything but. The tension kept building, the pace stayed steady and engaging, and I ended up binge-listening to the entire thing in a day.
My biggest complaint was the repetition. When it came to Emily’s obsessive thoughts and behaviors, there were a lot of moments that I was like, “Girl, what are you doing?” We definitely got the point. It started to feel like we were going in circles at times. Fortunately, the final stretch was easily the strongest part. I felt it was then and there where everything really took off, and the reveal, I absolutely did not see coming. Loved it!
I listened to A Beautiful Lie, and this was not only my first read by Tanya Grant, this was my first listen by Elena Rey. She nailed the narration. Her inflection, tone and overall style were spot on for this story and especially for Emily’s increasingly unhinged personality.
In the end, this story certainly gave me You/Joe Goldberg vibes, but with its own messy spin. Grant created something dark, obsessive, twisty, character-driven and increasingly crazy as it went along. Exactly the kind of mess I wanted getting sucked into. Loved it! (Audio)
Obsessive, delusional, creepy, manipulative…Emily was an absolute train wreck, and apparently I couldn’t look away. This was dark, twisted and juicy. Emily is a professional home organizer who becomes increasingly obsessed with her wealthy client, Cap, and I absolutely loved to hate her. The more obsessive and unhinged she became, the more fascinating she was to watch. I also really liked getting pulled into Cap’s privileged world and glamorous summer home. Everything looked so polished and perfect on the surface but underneath it, it was anything but. The tension kept building, the pace stayed steady and engaging, and I ended up binge-listening to the entire thing in a day.
My biggest complaint was the repetition. When it came to Emily’s obsessive thoughts and behaviors, there were a lot of moments that I was like, “Girl, what are you doing?” We definitely got the point. It started to feel like we were going in circles at times. Fortunately, the final stretch was easily the strongest part. I felt it was then and there where everything really took off, and the reveal, I absolutely did not see coming. Loved it!
I listened to A Beautiful Lie, and this was not only my first read by Tanya Grant, this was my first listen by Elena Rey. She nailed the narration. Her inflection, tone and overall style were spot on for this story and especially for Emily’s increasingly unhinged personality.
In the end, this story certainly gave me You/Joe Goldberg vibes, but with its own messy spin. Grant created something dark, obsessive, twisty, character-driven and increasingly crazy as it went along. Exactly the kind of mess I wanted getting sucked into. Loved it! (Audio)
September 16, 2026
3.5 ⭐️.
Definitely a twisty one!! Emily is a home organizer who is hired by a woman named, Cap.” They establish a friendship after her job is complete, and from there Emily becomes obsessed with Cap. Parts of this felt repetitive and could have been eliminated—IMO. The twist at the end was fab though!
Definitely a twisty one!! Emily is a home organizer who is hired by a woman named, Cap.” They establish a friendship after her job is complete, and from there Emily becomes obsessed with Cap. Parts of this felt repetitive and could have been eliminated—IMO. The twist at the end was fab though!
June 18, 2026
Be careful who you let into your life. Emily is a home organizer. She has been hired by Cap. Cap is a star and soon becomes the object of obsession by the unhinged Emily.
This one comes out September 8.
This is a snapshot into the crazy world of a deranged stalker. The upshot is a book devoid of any interesting character. We just circle around Emilies delusions. This was a climb to get through. There was a twist at the end. I had checked out by then. 2 1/2 stars do think this would be a good pick for someone wanting to do there for in the thriller genre as it is a fast read.
Thank you to NetGalley be the digital ARC in return for an honest review.
This one comes out September 8.
This is a snapshot into the crazy world of a deranged stalker. The upshot is a book devoid of any interesting character. We just circle around Emilies delusions. This was a climb to get through. There was a twist at the end. I had checked out by then. 2 1/2 stars do think this would be a good pick for someone wanting to do there for in the thriller genre as it is a fast read.
Thank you to NetGalley be the digital ARC in return for an honest review.
Did Not Finish
October 1, 2026thank you so much berkley pub and prh audio for the free copies.
this is one that I really wanted to enjoy, but unfortunately, it was not for me. I attempted to read it physically and it felt very slow so I attempted to listen to the audiobook and it was the same experience. I really wasn’t getting a thriller vibe from it and I really wanted to skim it, but didn’t feel like that was fair so I ended up just DNFing it.
Happy reading 📖
this is one that I really wanted to enjoy, but unfortunately, it was not for me. I attempted to read it physically and it felt very slow so I attempted to listen to the audiobook and it was the same experience. I really wasn’t getting a thriller vibe from it and I really wanted to skim it, but didn’t feel like that was fair so I ended up just DNFing it.
Happy reading 📖
September 15, 2026
Thanks to the publisher, via Netgalley, for an advance e-galley for honest review.
3.5 stars, rounded up. I was uncomfortable with this main character from the start, and every once in a while that's an exciting type of story to read. It's devious and unsettling, and Emily is an unrepentant, despicable character- but it's hard to set this down.
3.5 stars, rounded up. I was uncomfortable with this main character from the start, and every once in a while that's an exciting type of story to read. It's devious and unsettling, and Emily is an unrepentant, despicable character- but it's hard to set this down.
September 28, 2026
3.5 stars rounded up
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5 stars. “. . . before anyone can execute a vision and see it come to life, there’s a first step that needs to happen: you need to admit you’re unhappy with the way things are.” So says the narrator, Emily Grant, in the Prologue to this chilling domestic thriller.
Emily Grant is a professional organizer. She’s helping new client and artist, Calliope “Cap” Pine bring order to her messy life. The two bond building a rapport, lunching together, sharing secrets before Emily gets invited into Cap’s inner circle. When Cap invites Emily for a July weekend at her family’s Newport estate, what starts out idyllic soon turns in a manic frenzy as Emily’s controlling organizing takes over - and it’s not what you might think it is.
Emily has got to be one of the most unlikable characters you ever want to meet. I think it was the author’s intention to make her this way given how the story progresses and ends. She holds a secret that’s not revealed until the very end - you have to read the book to find out it is - but everything she does is to make herself happy - confirming her point in the Prologue. Emily definitely has a vision!
I sort of had a love-hate with this book. It’s a slow burn and then speeds up so fast at the end - I think you’re as breathless as Emily is coming out of the maze at the end. While I didn’t like Emily as a character, she’s fully developed and is as vile as she is charming. The book would be very shallow without her.
This is book perfect to readers who enjoy a thriller centered around a character-driven plot.
My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for granting me access to this ARC.
Emily Grant is a professional organizer. She’s helping new client and artist, Calliope “Cap” Pine bring order to her messy life. The two bond building a rapport, lunching together, sharing secrets before Emily gets invited into Cap’s inner circle. When Cap invites Emily for a July weekend at her family’s Newport estate, what starts out idyllic soon turns in a manic frenzy as Emily’s controlling organizing takes over - and it’s not what you might think it is.
Emily has got to be one of the most unlikable characters you ever want to meet. I think it was the author’s intention to make her this way given how the story progresses and ends. She holds a secret that’s not revealed until the very end - you have to read the book to find out it is - but everything she does is to make herself happy - confirming her point in the Prologue. Emily definitely has a vision!
I sort of had a love-hate with this book. It’s a slow burn and then speeds up so fast at the end - I think you’re as breathless as Emily is coming out of the maze at the end. While I didn’t like Emily as a character, she’s fully developed and is as vile as she is charming. The book would be very shallow without her.
This is book perfect to readers who enjoy a thriller centered around a character-driven plot.
My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for granting me access to this ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Not friends. Not acquaintances. Not "I'd like to get to know her better." Soulmates. Emily meets Cap and immediately starts operating with the confidence of somebody who has mistaken obsession for destiny. Every decision after that feels like watching a shopping cart roll downhill toward a busy intersection. You know exactly where this is headed. You just can't stop watching.
Emily works as a professional home organizer, which sounds harmless until you spend five minutes inside her head. She walks into people's homes, studies their lives, decides what's important, and throws out the rest. The woman treats clutter like a moral failing. And honestly? That should have been my first clue that we were dealing with somebody who was maybe not approaching life from the healthiest angle.
Then Cap arrives with her wealthy family, beautiful summer home, magnetic personality, and the kind of effortless cool that makes people immediately start making bad decisions around her. Emily doesn't just become interested in Cap. She latches on with the intensity of somebody who has already picked out matching retirement homes.
What I enjoyed most was how deeply committed Emily is to her own nonsense. She has a reason for everything. A justification for everything. Every terrible choice comes wrapped in a neat little bow of logic that somehow makes perfect sense to her and absolutely nobody else. Spending time with her felt like listening to that one friend explain why texting their ex from a fake number is actually a good idea. The confidence is almost impressive.
The dynamic between Emily and Cap kept me hooked because I was never entirely sure who had the upper hand. Emily believes she's carefully curating her perfect future. Meanwhile Cap has her own secrets, her own motivations, and enough mystery surrounding her to keep Emily chasing after her like a detective who's forgotten she's supposed to be solving crimes instead of becoming one. The tension isn't really about whether things will go wrong. It's about how spectacularly wrong they're going to go.
I will say that the whole thing gave me strong "please seek professional help immediately" energy. Not in a scary thriller way. More in a "everyone involved should probably spend six months journaling and staying away from each other" way. Emily's narration is so convincing at first that you almost start buying into her logic before suddenly remembering she's completely unhinged. Then she says something else and you're right back on the roller coaster.
The setting does a lot of heavy lifting too. Wealthy summer homes in thrillers are basically catnip for bad decisions. Something about expensive waterfront property immediately makes people start lying, hiding things, and acting like consequences are optional. Everybody arrives looking polished and put together, and then the cracks start showing. That's always my favorite part.
Where the book lost me a little was in the middle. The obsession is compelling, but there were stretches where I felt like we were circling the same emotional drain a few too many times. I understood Emily's fixation pretty early on, so some of the repetition made the pacing drag when I wanted things to get messier faster.
That said, once things start unraveling, they unravel beautifully. Watching Emily try to maintain control while everything slips through her fingers was easily the strongest part of the book. Because underneath all the manipulation and rationalization is somebody who desperately wants connection and has absolutely no idea how to achieve it in a healthy way. It's uncomfortable, a little sad, and occasionally fascinating.
By the end, I wasn't shocked so much as deeply entertained by how committed everyone remained to making the worst possible choices available to them. That's honestly a compliment. This landed at a solid 3.5 stars for me. Twisted, compulsively readable, occasionally repetitive, but powered by an absolutely wild narrator whose confidence far exceeds her judgment.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Watch a Professional Organizer Turn Another Woman Into Her Entire Personality
Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. Any book that convinces me home organizers might secretly be gathering intelligence on all of us while color-coding our closets has absolutely earned a place in my thriller rotation.
Emily works as a professional home organizer, which sounds harmless until you spend five minutes inside her head. She walks into people's homes, studies their lives, decides what's important, and throws out the rest. The woman treats clutter like a moral failing. And honestly? That should have been my first clue that we were dealing with somebody who was maybe not approaching life from the healthiest angle.
Then Cap arrives with her wealthy family, beautiful summer home, magnetic personality, and the kind of effortless cool that makes people immediately start making bad decisions around her. Emily doesn't just become interested in Cap. She latches on with the intensity of somebody who has already picked out matching retirement homes.
What I enjoyed most was how deeply committed Emily is to her own nonsense. She has a reason for everything. A justification for everything. Every terrible choice comes wrapped in a neat little bow of logic that somehow makes perfect sense to her and absolutely nobody else. Spending time with her felt like listening to that one friend explain why texting their ex from a fake number is actually a good idea. The confidence is almost impressive.
The dynamic between Emily and Cap kept me hooked because I was never entirely sure who had the upper hand. Emily believes she's carefully curating her perfect future. Meanwhile Cap has her own secrets, her own motivations, and enough mystery surrounding her to keep Emily chasing after her like a detective who's forgotten she's supposed to be solving crimes instead of becoming one. The tension isn't really about whether things will go wrong. It's about how spectacularly wrong they're going to go.
I will say that the whole thing gave me strong "please seek professional help immediately" energy. Not in a scary thriller way. More in a "everyone involved should probably spend six months journaling and staying away from each other" way. Emily's narration is so convincing at first that you almost start buying into her logic before suddenly remembering she's completely unhinged. Then she says something else and you're right back on the roller coaster.
The setting does a lot of heavy lifting too. Wealthy summer homes in thrillers are basically catnip for bad decisions. Something about expensive waterfront property immediately makes people start lying, hiding things, and acting like consequences are optional. Everybody arrives looking polished and put together, and then the cracks start showing. That's always my favorite part.
Where the book lost me a little was in the middle. The obsession is compelling, but there were stretches where I felt like we were circling the same emotional drain a few too many times. I understood Emily's fixation pretty early on, so some of the repetition made the pacing drag when I wanted things to get messier faster.
That said, once things start unraveling, they unravel beautifully. Watching Emily try to maintain control while everything slips through her fingers was easily the strongest part of the book. Because underneath all the manipulation and rationalization is somebody who desperately wants connection and has absolutely no idea how to achieve it in a healthy way. It's uncomfortable, a little sad, and occasionally fascinating.
By the end, I wasn't shocked so much as deeply entertained by how committed everyone remained to making the worst possible choices available to them. That's honestly a compliment. This landed at a solid 3.5 stars for me. Twisted, compulsively readable, occasionally repetitive, but powered by an absolutely wild narrator whose confidence far exceeds her judgment.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Watch a Professional Organizer Turn Another Woman Into Her Entire Personality
Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. Any book that convinces me home organizers might secretly be gathering intelligence on all of us while color-coding our closets has absolutely earned a place in my thriller rotation.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book is absolutely unhinged. Like… Emily Lowell, girl, I need you to seek professional help. Immediately.
A Beautiful Lie follows Emily, a home organizer who makes a living helping people declutter their lives. She has a knack for looking at someone’s possessions and figuring out what they should—and shouldn’t—be holding onto. The irony, of course, is that Emily has a little trouble with letting go herself. 😂
Enter Cap.
Cap is everything Emily finds irresistible: colorful, magnetic, wealthy, and completely captivating. When Emily becomes obsessed with her, things take a VERY hard turn into “ma’am, this is not normal behavior” territory. Emily decides that she and Cap are meant to be together, whether Cap realizes it or not, and she is more than willing to put in the work to make that happen.
And when Emily gets invited to Cap’s gorgeous summer home? Well… let’s just say Emily has absolutely no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Emily Lowell is now easily in my top five most twisted characters I’ve ever read about. Her perspective was truly INSANE. She is definitely a go-getter, I’ll give her that. 😂 The problem is that she is also completely, spectacularly, needs-a-mental-hospital-stat unhinged.
What makes this one so wild is getting inside Emily’s head. Her obsession with Cap is basically its own character. She has this incredibly warped way of rationalizing everything she does, and watching her convince herself that her behavior is totally reasonable was both fascinating and deeply disturbing.
That said, this one was a 3-star read for me. A lot of the book is Emily obsessing over Cap, thinking about Cap, analyzing Cap, and… obsessing over Cap some more. There wasn’t a ton of action, and because of how over-the-top and unbelievable Emily’s behavior became, I sometimes had a hard time fully buying into the story.
BUT.
This woman had me in a chokehold because I still read this entire thing in TWO DAYS and somehow found myself finishing it past 3 AM because I absolutely needed to know how it ended. So clearly, despite my complaints, Tanya Grant had me invested enough to sacrifice sleep for the conclusion.
If you like psychological thrillers with obsessive characters, wealthy people behaving badly, questionable decisions, and a protagonist who desperately needs someone to confiscate her driver’s license and admit her to therapy, this one is definitely worth checking out.
Was it completely believable? Absolutely not.
Was Emily okay? Absolutely not.
Did I sacrifice sleep because I needed to know what the hell was going to happen? Absolutely.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Berkley, for sharing this eARC with me in exchange for my honest opinion. This review is based off of an uncorrected proof which did not sway my opinion either way. This one is out September 8th, be sure to indulge in this craziness yourselves!
A Beautiful Lie follows Emily, a home organizer who makes a living helping people declutter their lives. She has a knack for looking at someone’s possessions and figuring out what they should—and shouldn’t—be holding onto. The irony, of course, is that Emily has a little trouble with letting go herself. 😂
Enter Cap.
Cap is everything Emily finds irresistible: colorful, magnetic, wealthy, and completely captivating. When Emily becomes obsessed with her, things take a VERY hard turn into “ma’am, this is not normal behavior” territory. Emily decides that she and Cap are meant to be together, whether Cap realizes it or not, and she is more than willing to put in the work to make that happen.
And when Emily gets invited to Cap’s gorgeous summer home? Well… let’s just say Emily has absolutely no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Emily Lowell is now easily in my top five most twisted characters I’ve ever read about. Her perspective was truly INSANE. She is definitely a go-getter, I’ll give her that. 😂 The problem is that she is also completely, spectacularly, needs-a-mental-hospital-stat unhinged.
What makes this one so wild is getting inside Emily’s head. Her obsession with Cap is basically its own character. She has this incredibly warped way of rationalizing everything she does, and watching her convince herself that her behavior is totally reasonable was both fascinating and deeply disturbing.
That said, this one was a 3-star read for me. A lot of the book is Emily obsessing over Cap, thinking about Cap, analyzing Cap, and… obsessing over Cap some more. There wasn’t a ton of action, and because of how over-the-top and unbelievable Emily’s behavior became, I sometimes had a hard time fully buying into the story.
BUT.
This woman had me in a chokehold because I still read this entire thing in TWO DAYS and somehow found myself finishing it past 3 AM because I absolutely needed to know how it ended. So clearly, despite my complaints, Tanya Grant had me invested enough to sacrifice sleep for the conclusion.
If you like psychological thrillers with obsessive characters, wealthy people behaving badly, questionable decisions, and a protagonist who desperately needs someone to confiscate her driver’s license and admit her to therapy, this one is definitely worth checking out.
Was it completely believable? Absolutely not.
Was Emily okay? Absolutely not.
Did I sacrifice sleep because I needed to know what the hell was going to happen? Absolutely.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Berkley, for sharing this eARC with me in exchange for my honest opinion. This review is based off of an uncorrected proof which did not sway my opinion either way. This one is out September 8th, be sure to indulge in this craziness yourselves!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received this advanced reader copy from NetGalley.
As the book begins, it is very clear that our main character (antagonist?) is a psychopath. The book begins with a prologue in which someone is crying out for help while Emily is "organizing" the house. But then we are taken back in time (or are we? that seems to be implied, but is a little bit unclear) to a time when Emily is meeting up with a potential new client. Emily is an organizer. She helps clients organize their spaces more efficiently, throwing out what they don't need and reorganizing what is left. She seems to be quite good at what she does.
So Emily meets the girl that will come to be known as "Cap," and is hired to organize her workspace. Emily becomes quite enamored with Cap, and begins to arrange her whole life around her. She inserts herself into Cap's life, manipulating things to the point that she even gets invited to spend a whole month of the summer at their summer "cottage." News flash: it's not a cottage . . . it's a mansion. Think "My Cottage" from the most recent season of Bridgerton, if you watch that show.
Anyway. I don't want to reveal any more of the plot of this well-crafted story. It doesn't take long to understand that Emily is just wrong. There is something very "off" about her. And Ms Grant has written this character so very well, in my opinion. There are quite a few "Oh, no! She's not going to . . . Oh! She is!" moments in this book. And even knowing what we know about Emily, there are also quite a few "didn't see THAT coming!" moments.
So why did I only give it four stars? There are a couple of continuity problems that might get fixed before final publication. One of those comes at the 16% point (no page numbers in my digital edition) when Emily says (or thinks) "Even though Cap has a habit of being late . . ." I don't remember that coming up previously, but it is written as though we should be aware of this already. Not a serious issue, though.
And there are points where there are quite suddenly hints of eroticism that kind of appear out of nowhere. At those points, it was like the story was having an identity crisis. I'm not bothered by "spice" in a story, but there were a couple of points where that "spice" bordered on outright porn.
The last reason I didn't say it is a five-star book is that I don't feel that there is ever an understanding of what is going on (and with who) in the prologue. Is it referring to Cap's house, Cap's family? Is it a previous person or family? I think I might know who it is, but it's unclear.
Other that, though, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. I would recommend it to lovers of psychological thrillers involving a stalkery psychopathic person. One of the best parts of the story is when Emily starts coming unhinged and blames it on everyone else. Oh, and the ending. I was totally surprised by the ending. So there's that.
As the book begins, it is very clear that our main character (antagonist?) is a psychopath. The book begins with a prologue in which someone is crying out for help while Emily is "organizing" the house. But then we are taken back in time (or are we? that seems to be implied, but is a little bit unclear) to a time when Emily is meeting up with a potential new client. Emily is an organizer. She helps clients organize their spaces more efficiently, throwing out what they don't need and reorganizing what is left. She seems to be quite good at what she does.
So Emily meets the girl that will come to be known as "Cap," and is hired to organize her workspace. Emily becomes quite enamored with Cap, and begins to arrange her whole life around her. She inserts herself into Cap's life, manipulating things to the point that she even gets invited to spend a whole month of the summer at their summer "cottage." News flash: it's not a cottage . . . it's a mansion. Think "My Cottage" from the most recent season of Bridgerton, if you watch that show.
Anyway. I don't want to reveal any more of the plot of this well-crafted story. It doesn't take long to understand that Emily is just wrong. There is something very "off" about her. And Ms Grant has written this character so very well, in my opinion. There are quite a few "Oh, no! She's not going to . . . Oh! She is!" moments in this book. And even knowing what we know about Emily, there are also quite a few "didn't see THAT coming!" moments.
So why did I only give it four stars? There are a couple of continuity problems that might get fixed before final publication. One of those comes at the 16% point (no page numbers in my digital edition) when Emily says (or thinks) "Even though Cap has a habit of being late . . ." I don't remember that coming up previously, but it is written as though we should be aware of this already. Not a serious issue, though.
And there are points where there are quite suddenly hints of eroticism that kind of appear out of nowhere. At those points, it was like the story was having an identity crisis. I'm not bothered by "spice" in a story, but there were a couple of points where that "spice" bordered on outright porn.
The last reason I didn't say it is a five-star book is that I don't feel that there is ever an understanding of what is going on (and with who) in the prologue. Is it referring to Cap's house, Cap's family? Is it a previous person or family? I think I might know who it is, but it's unclear.
Other that, though, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. I would recommend it to lovers of psychological thrillers involving a stalkery psychopathic person. One of the best parts of the story is when Emily starts coming unhinged and blames it on everyone else. Oh, and the ending. I was totally surprised by the ending. So there's that.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Receiving this as a physical and eARC made me a tad bit emotional because Made You Look by Tanya Grant was one of the first ARCs I was ever sent. Since then, I've read and been sent hundreds of advanced copies, and just like Made You Look, I enjoyed this newest Tanya Grant release so, so much! I spent the majority of this book yelling at the main character and desperately needing to know what was going to happen next.
Emily is a professional home organizer, someone who makes a living deciding what belongs in a person’s life and what needs to be discarded. Which is a pretty clever setup for a story about someone who has absolutely no idea how to let go of a person. When she meets Cap, Emily quickly decides that their connection is something special, and from there, fascination turns into obsession in ways that become increasingly disturbing.
What really worked for me was being trapped inside Emily’s perspective. She has an explanation for everything, and somehow she can make even her most questionable choices sound completely reasonable…at least to herself. There were so many moments when I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and say WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGGG?!?!?
The Newport summer setting was also perfect for this kind of story. Beautiful homes, money, privilege, complicated relationships, and enough secrets floating around to make you wonder who is actually manipulating whom. The contrast between all that outward perfection and the mess underneath it all made the atmosphere feel especially fitting.
I also liked that Cap wasn’t simply a blank canvas for Emily’s obsession. There’s enough mystery surrounding her to keep you questioning the relationship and wondering whether Emily is actually in control of anything. Just when I thought I had a handle on where things were going, the story would shift and make me reconsider what I thought I knew.
The pacing did slow down for me in the middle. Emily’s fixation is fascinating, but there were a few stretches where I felt like we were revisiting the same emotional territory rather than pushing the story forward. Once the tension really started escalating, though, I was hooked again.
And that ending! I didn’t see everything coming, and I especially enjoyed how the final stretch brought together the themes of control, perception, and obsession. There’s something fascinating about watching someone who believes she has perfectly organized her world realize that she may have completely misunderstood and misjudged it.
This was a twisted, entertaining psychological thriller with an unforgettable narrator. Emily is deeply unreliable, unhinged, and somehow impossible to stop reading about. If you enjoy morally questionable characters, toxic obsessions, and wealthy people with complicated secrets, I think you'll love this.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this ARC!
Emily is a professional home organizer, someone who makes a living deciding what belongs in a person’s life and what needs to be discarded. Which is a pretty clever setup for a story about someone who has absolutely no idea how to let go of a person. When she meets Cap, Emily quickly decides that their connection is something special, and from there, fascination turns into obsession in ways that become increasingly disturbing.
What really worked for me was being trapped inside Emily’s perspective. She has an explanation for everything, and somehow she can make even her most questionable choices sound completely reasonable…at least to herself. There were so many moments when I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and say WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGGG?!?!?
The Newport summer setting was also perfect for this kind of story. Beautiful homes, money, privilege, complicated relationships, and enough secrets floating around to make you wonder who is actually manipulating whom. The contrast between all that outward perfection and the mess underneath it all made the atmosphere feel especially fitting.
I also liked that Cap wasn’t simply a blank canvas for Emily’s obsession. There’s enough mystery surrounding her to keep you questioning the relationship and wondering whether Emily is actually in control of anything. Just when I thought I had a handle on where things were going, the story would shift and make me reconsider what I thought I knew.
The pacing did slow down for me in the middle. Emily’s fixation is fascinating, but there were a few stretches where I felt like we were revisiting the same emotional territory rather than pushing the story forward. Once the tension really started escalating, though, I was hooked again.
And that ending! I didn’t see everything coming, and I especially enjoyed how the final stretch brought together the themes of control, perception, and obsession. There’s something fascinating about watching someone who believes she has perfectly organized her world realize that she may have completely misunderstood and misjudged it.
This was a twisted, entertaining psychological thriller with an unforgettable narrator. Emily is deeply unreliable, unhinged, and somehow impossible to stop reading about. If you enjoy morally questionable characters, toxic obsessions, and wealthy people with complicated secrets, I think you'll love this.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this ARC!
September 22, 2026
Book rating: 3.75⭐️
Genre: thriller
Themes: obsession, sapphic, sociopathic behaviour, summer estate
📖 Read if you like: You, Saltcrop
Thank you to @BerkleyPub for this #gifted path down a dark and twisted mind. #BerkleyPartner #BerkleyBookstagram
Emily is a master at detecting lies as she is so fluent in them herself. She sifts through the homes of others and unearths what each item says about the resident and what they have trouble letting go of. She excels at reading people and knowing what they want to hear for Emily is a home (and life) organizer. When she takes a job for an enigmatic young artist, her life will become undone as she too finds it difficult to let go of certain things, or more accurately people.
Cap comes from wealth, but belies convention with her neon slogans of uncomfortable truths. It is an instant attraction from Emily that soon spirals into obsession. A little online stalking turns into full blown fixation. As she is pulled into the life of the rich and beautiful, Emily begins to spirals as her need for Cap compounds as she witnesses her in her native landscape. The Nest lives up to its name as the holder of many hidden gems, both visible and unseen.
This is a twisted and uncomfortable story. It is an unhinged need for more that questions the motives of why people behave the way that they do and what could inspire such devotion and compulsive need to control the narrative. It is a story of darkness in a dreamy location and the madness of wanting something and someone that is always out of reach…or is it. For Emily is willing to get rid of any obstacles to get what she wants.
Emily is a train wreck and while I couldn’t really like her, she proved to be just the right amount of delusional, manipulative and obsessive that I couldn’t look away from and she propelled this novel. It is a character driven spiral with Emily proving a creepy narrator who will protect her own desires at any cost.
This is not my usual sort of unhinged, but I did find this next level of self justification for one’s own ambitions and a sensual descent into chaos really fascinating. Like a train wreck I could not look away from the horror. It was a pressure cooker of tension and lies that yielded a portrait of obsession, spiraling desire and relentless control. And that ending was not what I expected or wanted, but it was a perfect fit!
Genre: thriller
Themes: obsession, sapphic, sociopathic behaviour, summer estate
📖 Read if you like: You, Saltcrop
Thank you to @BerkleyPub for this #gifted path down a dark and twisted mind. #BerkleyPartner #BerkleyBookstagram
Emily is a master at detecting lies as she is so fluent in them herself. She sifts through the homes of others and unearths what each item says about the resident and what they have trouble letting go of. She excels at reading people and knowing what they want to hear for Emily is a home (and life) organizer. When she takes a job for an enigmatic young artist, her life will become undone as she too finds it difficult to let go of certain things, or more accurately people.
Cap comes from wealth, but belies convention with her neon slogans of uncomfortable truths. It is an instant attraction from Emily that soon spirals into obsession. A little online stalking turns into full blown fixation. As she is pulled into the life of the rich and beautiful, Emily begins to spirals as her need for Cap compounds as she witnesses her in her native landscape. The Nest lives up to its name as the holder of many hidden gems, both visible and unseen.
This is a twisted and uncomfortable story. It is an unhinged need for more that questions the motives of why people behave the way that they do and what could inspire such devotion and compulsive need to control the narrative. It is a story of darkness in a dreamy location and the madness of wanting something and someone that is always out of reach…or is it. For Emily is willing to get rid of any obstacles to get what she wants.
Emily is a train wreck and while I couldn’t really like her, she proved to be just the right amount of delusional, manipulative and obsessive that I couldn’t look away from and she propelled this novel. It is a character driven spiral with Emily proving a creepy narrator who will protect her own desires at any cost.
This is not my usual sort of unhinged, but I did find this next level of self justification for one’s own ambitions and a sensual descent into chaos really fascinating. Like a train wreck I could not look away from the horror. It was a pressure cooker of tension and lies that yielded a portrait of obsession, spiraling desire and relentless control. And that ending was not what I expected or wanted, but it was a perfect fit!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔--𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔, 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒔. 𝑭𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒐. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒐𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚'𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒚𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅.
Emily organizes people’s lives for a living, which already feels like a red flag if you think about it for more than five seconds. She doesn’t just declutter closets, she decides what matters and what doesn’t, what stays and what goes. So when she meets Cap, who is beautiful, chaotic, and impossible to ignore, and gets invited into her glossy, perfect world, it’s not just a job anymore; it’s a fixation. In Emily’s mind, some things are just meant to be kept, and Cap is not something she’s willing to let go of.
This is the kind of book where you start off thinking, okay, this is a little off, and then suddenly you’re twenty chapters deep like, “oh sh*t, we are fully and deeply unwell here.” Emily’s narration is so controlled, so confident, that it almost tricks you into following her logic before you catch yourself and think, wait. No. Absolutely not. That chaotic energy is where this book thrives. You're fully aware that you're witnessing someone spiral, but it’s so neatly packaged, so carefully justified, that you can’t look away. The dynamic between her and Cap is tense in that crackling, unpredictable way where you know something is going to snap.
The whole time you're reading, you can feel the inevitable disaster building. Every choice. Every rationalization. Every “this is fine” when it is SO not fine. Everything neatly clicks, and you get that satisfying realization that this story has been laying its tracks the entire time while you were just along for the ride. This book has one of those endings that makes you sit there in silence for a second, replaying everything, realizing this was never a story about control. It was about obsession wearing a perfectly curated mask until it just couldn’t anymore. Many thanks to Berkley Publishing for this early read that is set to publish September 8, 2026.
Emily organizes people’s lives for a living, which already feels like a red flag if you think about it for more than five seconds. She doesn’t just declutter closets, she decides what matters and what doesn’t, what stays and what goes. So when she meets Cap, who is beautiful, chaotic, and impossible to ignore, and gets invited into her glossy, perfect world, it’s not just a job anymore; it’s a fixation. In Emily’s mind, some things are just meant to be kept, and Cap is not something she’s willing to let go of.
This is the kind of book where you start off thinking, okay, this is a little off, and then suddenly you’re twenty chapters deep like, “oh sh*t, we are fully and deeply unwell here.” Emily’s narration is so controlled, so confident, that it almost tricks you into following her logic before you catch yourself and think, wait. No. Absolutely not. That chaotic energy is where this book thrives. You're fully aware that you're witnessing someone spiral, but it’s so neatly packaged, so carefully justified, that you can’t look away. The dynamic between her and Cap is tense in that crackling, unpredictable way where you know something is going to snap.
The whole time you're reading, you can feel the inevitable disaster building. Every choice. Every rationalization. Every “this is fine” when it is SO not fine. Everything neatly clicks, and you get that satisfying realization that this story has been laying its tracks the entire time while you were just along for the ride. This book has one of those endings that makes you sit there in silence for a second, replaying everything, realizing this was never a story about control. It was about obsession wearing a perfectly curated mask until it just couldn’t anymore. Many thanks to Berkley Publishing for this early read that is set to publish September 8, 2026.
September 9, 2026
BLURB:
Emily, a professional organizer, is obsessed with wealthy artist Cap Pine, & a summer at Cap’s Newport estate sends her fixation spiraling out of control.
REVIEW:
This was my 1st book by Tanya Grant, & I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover and title. It’s an addictive psychological thriller about obsession, jealousy, manipulation, & hidden motives. The FMC, Emily, is a professional organizer whose need for control carries over into how she views relationships. I found the storyline fresh & engaging throughout!
The story is told from Emily’s POV, which made the book so entertaining as we’re inside her head, hearing all her unhinged thoughts as her obsession grows. The opening prologue is gripping as someone’s crying for help while Emily’s organizing, and then it jumps back to show how Emily met Cap. Emily’s morally gray, intelligent, charming, manipulative, and becomes VERY unhinged—and I was constantly wondering how far she would take things next. In her inner dialogue, she’s constantly rationalizing her behavior and interpreting her interactions with Cap in a twisted way—and I was yelling at her many times to get a reality check! 🤣
You do have to suspend your disbelief with some of the plot points, especially how quickly Emily becomes part of Cap’s wealthy social circle, how much access she’s given to, and how she avoids suspicion. I was prepared for this, & it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this wild ride of a story! Emily gets very possessive & sees people around Cap as obstacles. Be ready to get the popcorn out!🍿
The straightforward writing, short chapters made me fly through this in a day! The pacing is slow-burn to start as Emily becomes slowly involved in Cap’s world, but in the 2nd half it really ramps up, with violent scenes, plot turns, and a major reveal late in the story that I didn’t see coming, but probably should have.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and would read more from Tanya Grant! I thought the length was perfect, and I liked that the story got wild towards the end—exactly how I like my slow-burns. If you’re looking for a binge-worthy psychological thriller with an unhinged FMC, stalking, manipulation, & toxic relationships, I recommend checking this one out!
Emily, a professional organizer, is obsessed with wealthy artist Cap Pine, & a summer at Cap’s Newport estate sends her fixation spiraling out of control.
REVIEW:
This was my 1st book by Tanya Grant, & I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover and title. It’s an addictive psychological thriller about obsession, jealousy, manipulation, & hidden motives. The FMC, Emily, is a professional organizer whose need for control carries over into how she views relationships. I found the storyline fresh & engaging throughout!
The story is told from Emily’s POV, which made the book so entertaining as we’re inside her head, hearing all her unhinged thoughts as her obsession grows. The opening prologue is gripping as someone’s crying for help while Emily’s organizing, and then it jumps back to show how Emily met Cap. Emily’s morally gray, intelligent, charming, manipulative, and becomes VERY unhinged—and I was constantly wondering how far she would take things next. In her inner dialogue, she’s constantly rationalizing her behavior and interpreting her interactions with Cap in a twisted way—and I was yelling at her many times to get a reality check! 🤣
You do have to suspend your disbelief with some of the plot points, especially how quickly Emily becomes part of Cap’s wealthy social circle, how much access she’s given to, and how she avoids suspicion. I was prepared for this, & it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this wild ride of a story! Emily gets very possessive & sees people around Cap as obstacles. Be ready to get the popcorn out!🍿
The straightforward writing, short chapters made me fly through this in a day! The pacing is slow-burn to start as Emily becomes slowly involved in Cap’s world, but in the 2nd half it really ramps up, with violent scenes, plot turns, and a major reveal late in the story that I didn’t see coming, but probably should have.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and would read more from Tanya Grant! I thought the length was perfect, and I liked that the story got wild towards the end—exactly how I like my slow-burns. If you’re looking for a binge-worthy psychological thriller with an unhinged FMC, stalking, manipulation, & toxic relationships, I recommend checking this one out!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
First, I want to thank Berkeley Publishing and Penguin Random House for the gifted physical arc of A Beautiful Lie to read and provide my honest, spoiler free review.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Thoughts:
A Beautiful Lie is my first ever introduction to Tanya Grant and wow! Talk about a really great first impression! Psychological thrillers are my favorite type of thrillers and normally things get revealed over time about the main character that morph into the psychological thrills, however with this book, you immediately get the taste of just how mentally unstable Emily is from the prologue!
I’m not sure what I like more. Either slowly learning that the main character is psychologically not okay, or knowing right off the bat and seeing what all happens along the way. I felt a whole new level of tension knowing that Emily wasn’t exactly stable. Everything felt a lot more creepier and just had me watching everything unfold from a whole new perspective. As I was reading, I had this pit in my stomach the entire time just knowing that things weren’t right and having to watch everything play out and not being able to look away brought a whole new reading experience to me.
Emily’s character was written so well and reading all her inner thoughts and watching just how much the obsession grew over time made everything feel so uncomfortable that made me want to keep reading. All I could do was sit back and enjoy the ride and witness the well orchestrated timeline of events play out without any way of stopping it. This book brought a whole new meaning to psychological thrillers and I definitely want to read more by this author soon!
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Thoughts:
A Beautiful Lie is my first ever introduction to Tanya Grant and wow! Talk about a really great first impression! Psychological thrillers are my favorite type of thrillers and normally things get revealed over time about the main character that morph into the psychological thrills, however with this book, you immediately get the taste of just how mentally unstable Emily is from the prologue!
I’m not sure what I like more. Either slowly learning that the main character is psychologically not okay, or knowing right off the bat and seeing what all happens along the way. I felt a whole new level of tension knowing that Emily wasn’t exactly stable. Everything felt a lot more creepier and just had me watching everything unfold from a whole new perspective. As I was reading, I had this pit in my stomach the entire time just knowing that things weren’t right and having to watch everything play out and not being able to look away brought a whole new reading experience to me.
Emily’s character was written so well and reading all her inner thoughts and watching just how much the obsession grew over time made everything feel so uncomfortable that made me want to keep reading. All I could do was sit back and enjoy the ride and witness the well orchestrated timeline of events play out without any way of stopping it. This book brought a whole new meaning to psychological thrillers and I definitely want to read more by this author soon!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC of A Beautiful Lie.
Wow, I really loved this book. The setting, the characters, the rich glamorous lifestyle — it completely pulled me in from the beginning. Tanya Grant created such an addictive atmosphere where everything feels luxurious and polished on the surface, while underneath it’s messy, obsessive, and completely unhinged in the best way.
Emily was SUCH a frustrating character to read about, but in a way that made me unable to stop turning the pages. She was so gullible when it came to Cap, constantly letting herself get bossed around and controlled. I kept thinking, girl, stand UP. Meanwhile Cap was unbelievably insensitive, especially toward both Emily and her mother, and honestly I did not like her at all. But that toxic dynamic between them made the story even more entertaining because you never knew how far things were going to spiral.
What really made this book work for me was how chaotic and obsessive everything felt. The tension kept building and I was fully invested in seeing how it would all fall apart. Emily was honestly a horrible person by the end of this book — manipulative, selfish, and completely out of control — and I could not believe how much she got away with. I was genuinely hoping she would end up in jail.
The ending left me wanting SO much more. I absolutely need a sequel because I am not ready to leave these characters behind yet. This was such a juicy, fast-paced psychological thriller with messy relationships, obsession, lies, and rich people drama. I devoured it.
Wow, I really loved this book. The setting, the characters, the rich glamorous lifestyle — it completely pulled me in from the beginning. Tanya Grant created such an addictive atmosphere where everything feels luxurious and polished on the surface, while underneath it’s messy, obsessive, and completely unhinged in the best way.
Emily was SUCH a frustrating character to read about, but in a way that made me unable to stop turning the pages. She was so gullible when it came to Cap, constantly letting herself get bossed around and controlled. I kept thinking, girl, stand UP. Meanwhile Cap was unbelievably insensitive, especially toward both Emily and her mother, and honestly I did not like her at all. But that toxic dynamic between them made the story even more entertaining because you never knew how far things were going to spiral.
What really made this book work for me was how chaotic and obsessive everything felt. The tension kept building and I was fully invested in seeing how it would all fall apart. Emily was honestly a horrible person by the end of this book — manipulative, selfish, and completely out of control — and I could not believe how much she got away with. I was genuinely hoping she would end up in jail.
The ending left me wanting SO much more. I absolutely need a sequel because I am not ready to leave these characters behind yet. This was such a juicy, fast-paced psychological thriller with messy relationships, obsession, lies, and rich people drama. I devoured it.
September 8, 2026
This is the first book I have read by this author but I have purchased Made You Look and its on my TBR list.
A Beautiful Lie took me by surprise on how much I ended up liking this book. I went into the story blindly and at first as I was reading it was like this is just a book where one woman is obsessed and has a crush on another and wondering how this was all going to end up. It was kind of like a slow moving train wreck but you couldn't look away from it.
The main character, Emily, lost her parents when she was younger and she had to learn to take care of herself. She started her own home organization and design business. She has worked hard but lives basically paycheck to paycheck. She meets Cap and becomes obsessed with her and her lifestyle. The story is told by Emily's point of view, so you get first hand knowledge of her thoughts and actions, you are basically riding in her head. You see her rationalize, lie, be deceptive and scheme ways to keep Cap for herself. She slowly weeds herself into Cap's life and gets an invitation to visit the family home for a month in the summer. Things start to get interesting kind of slowly through the story and the events build all the way to the end. Most of the major twists happen close to the end of the book where things ramp up in Emily's quest to have Cap all to herself. Emily is unhinged, she reminds me of the character Joe Goldberg in the series YOU.
Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary copy of the story.
A Beautiful Lie took me by surprise on how much I ended up liking this book. I went into the story blindly and at first as I was reading it was like this is just a book where one woman is obsessed and has a crush on another and wondering how this was all going to end up. It was kind of like a slow moving train wreck but you couldn't look away from it.
The main character, Emily, lost her parents when she was younger and she had to learn to take care of herself. She started her own home organization and design business. She has worked hard but lives basically paycheck to paycheck. She meets Cap and becomes obsessed with her and her lifestyle. The story is told by Emily's point of view, so you get first hand knowledge of her thoughts and actions, you are basically riding in her head. You see her rationalize, lie, be deceptive and scheme ways to keep Cap for herself. She slowly weeds herself into Cap's life and gets an invitation to visit the family home for a month in the summer. Things start to get interesting kind of slowly through the story and the events build all the way to the end. Most of the major twists happen close to the end of the book where things ramp up in Emily's quest to have Cap all to herself. Emily is unhinged, she reminds me of the character Joe Goldberg in the series YOU.
Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary copy of the story.
September 26, 2026
After her parents died when she was 16, Emily took control of her life, becoming emancipated and starting her own business right after high school. Now, her home organizing business, Stylishly Organized is thriving in Providence. Em was referred to a high profile client, Calliope Pine or Cap, an artist. Upon their first meeting, Em is entranced. After organizing Cap's studio for a photo shoot, Em finds ways to enmesh herself into Cap's life. With immense patience and a mind to get her way, Em finds her way into Cap's close circle. However, with no healthy boundaries, nothing will stop Em from getting Cap all to herself.
A Beautiful Lie is a slow burn thriller. As a character study in unhealthy obsession, Em narrates her gradual spiral from someone desperate for a friend to an unstoppable master of manipulation. The writing showed detailed insight into how Em's mind worked and how she believed that she deserved everything that she was carefully crafting for herself. It was interesting to see how the people Em was not targeting reacted to her as opposed to those that she was actively manipulating. The pacing picked up as Em wove her way deeper into Cap's life and her family home. The Nest served as an idyllic backdrop for Em's plan to take hold. I was amazed at the steps Em took and how far she was willing to go. A huge twist at the end revealed what Em wanted all along.
This book was received for free in exchange for an honest review.
A Beautiful Lie is a slow burn thriller. As a character study in unhealthy obsession, Em narrates her gradual spiral from someone desperate for a friend to an unstoppable master of manipulation. The writing showed detailed insight into how Em's mind worked and how she believed that she deserved everything that she was carefully crafting for herself. It was interesting to see how the people Em was not targeting reacted to her as opposed to those that she was actively manipulating. The pacing picked up as Em wove her way deeper into Cap's life and her family home. The Nest served as an idyllic backdrop for Em's plan to take hold. I was amazed at the steps Em took and how far she was willing to go. A huge twist at the end revealed what Em wanted all along.
This book was received for free in exchange for an honest review.
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September 28, 20263⭐️. Thank you NetGalley, Tanya Grant, and Berkley Publishing Group for a copy of this book.
I thought this story was pretty meh overall. 🫤 I kept waiting for the tension and suspense to really pull me in, but I never felt fully invested in the story or the characters.
The main character was honestly completely unhinged. 😳 Her obsession starts off relatively minor, but it escalates from 1 to 1000 by the end, and some of her decisions became so extreme that I had a hard time buying into them. At a certain point, I was less intrigued by what was going to happen and more like…girl, you need some serious psychological help. 😂
There were definitely some interesting ideas here, especially the exploration of obsession, manipulation, and how far someone can go when they become consumed by a lie. I just don’t think the execution worked particularly well for me. The story had plenty of opportunities to build suspense, but I found myself feeling more disconnected than tense.
Overall, this was a quick enough read, but unfortunately it wasn’t one that really stuck with me.
Content warnings: death, stalking, obsession, manipulation, gaslighting, lying/deceit, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, grief, family trauma, psychological distress
Spice: None
Tropes: psychological thriller, suspense, obsession, unreliable narrator, toxic relationships, mother-daughter drama, family secrets
I thought this story was pretty meh overall. 🫤 I kept waiting for the tension and suspense to really pull me in, but I never felt fully invested in the story or the characters.
The main character was honestly completely unhinged. 😳 Her obsession starts off relatively minor, but it escalates from 1 to 1000 by the end, and some of her decisions became so extreme that I had a hard time buying into them. At a certain point, I was less intrigued by what was going to happen and more like…girl, you need some serious psychological help. 😂
There were definitely some interesting ideas here, especially the exploration of obsession, manipulation, and how far someone can go when they become consumed by a lie. I just don’t think the execution worked particularly well for me. The story had plenty of opportunities to build suspense, but I found myself feeling more disconnected than tense.
Overall, this was a quick enough read, but unfortunately it wasn’t one that really stuck with me.
Content warnings: death, stalking, obsession, manipulation, gaslighting, lying/deceit, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, grief, family trauma, psychological distress
Spice: None
Tropes: psychological thriller, suspense, obsession, unreliable narrator, toxic relationships, mother-daughter drama, family secrets
October 4, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Beautiful Lie was one of those books where I spent most of the time thinking, " What is actually wrong with this woman?
Emily is a home organizer who becomes completely obsessed with one of her clients, Cap, and from there things get progressively more uncomfortable, bizarre, and unhinged. Being inside Emily’s head is really what makes the book work. The way she rationalizes her behavior is fascinating because she genuinely seems to believe that everything she is doing makes perfect sense.
There were definitely moments that reminded me of You, especially with the obsessive inner monologue and the way Emily convinces herself that she and Cap are meant to have this special relationship.
For me, though, the story did start to feel repetitive. There is a lot of Emily thinking about Cap, analyzing Cap, watching Cap, and convincing herself that every little thing means something. I kept waiting for the story to move a little faster and give me more action.
That said, I absolutely wanted to know how it ended. Emily may be one of the most delusional and unsettling characters I have read in a while, and that alone kept me invested.
If you enjoy character driven psychological thrillers, obsession, wealthy people behaving badly, and protagonists who make one terrible decision after another, this may be worth picking up.
A Beautiful Lie was one of those books where I spent most of the time thinking, " What is actually wrong with this woman?
Emily is a home organizer who becomes completely obsessed with one of her clients, Cap, and from there things get progressively more uncomfortable, bizarre, and unhinged. Being inside Emily’s head is really what makes the book work. The way she rationalizes her behavior is fascinating because she genuinely seems to believe that everything she is doing makes perfect sense.
There were definitely moments that reminded me of You, especially with the obsessive inner monologue and the way Emily convinces herself that she and Cap are meant to have this special relationship.
For me, though, the story did start to feel repetitive. There is a lot of Emily thinking about Cap, analyzing Cap, watching Cap, and convincing herself that every little thing means something. I kept waiting for the story to move a little faster and give me more action.
That said, I absolutely wanted to know how it ended. Emily may be one of the most delusional and unsettling characters I have read in a while, and that alone kept me invested.
If you enjoy character driven psychological thrillers, obsession, wealthy people behaving badly, and protagonists who make one terrible decision after another, this may be worth picking up.
October 14, 2026
Thank you to Tanya Grant, Berkley and Netgalley for the ARC!
What if the person who wants to be part of your world is actually planning to take it over?
A Beautiful Lie by Tanya Grant is a deliciously dark psychological thriller that pulled me into a world of obsession, manipulation and dangerously blurred boundaries between desire and possession.
Emily is the kind of protagonist you cannot trust, yet somehow cannot look away from. Her growing obsession with Cap, her wealthy client, starts almost innocently before spiraling into something deeply unsettling. Watching Emily calculate and justify her increasingly disturbing actions was both fascinating and infuriating. I loved to hate her and, the deeper I got into her mind, the more I needed to know just how far she would go.
I also loved the glamorous world Grant creates, where everything looks perfect on the surface but hides something much darker underneath. The tension builds steadily, the characters keep you guessing and the final stretch delivered a twist I genuinely did not see coming.
My biggest complaint was the repetition. At times, Emily’s obsessive thoughts felt like they were going around in circles and I wished the story had trusted the reader a little more. But when everything finally came together, I was completely hooked.
What if the person who wants to be part of your world is actually planning to take it over?
A Beautiful Lie by Tanya Grant is a deliciously dark psychological thriller that pulled me into a world of obsession, manipulation and dangerously blurred boundaries between desire and possession.
Emily is the kind of protagonist you cannot trust, yet somehow cannot look away from. Her growing obsession with Cap, her wealthy client, starts almost innocently before spiraling into something deeply unsettling. Watching Emily calculate and justify her increasingly disturbing actions was both fascinating and infuriating. I loved to hate her and, the deeper I got into her mind, the more I needed to know just how far she would go.
I also loved the glamorous world Grant creates, where everything looks perfect on the surface but hides something much darker underneath. The tension builds steadily, the characters keep you guessing and the final stretch delivered a twist I genuinely did not see coming.
My biggest complaint was the repetition. At times, Emily’s obsessive thoughts felt like they were going around in circles and I wished the story had trusted the reader a little more. But when everything finally came together, I was completely hooked.
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